Anyone who has traveled I-65 in southern Alabama has heard of/seen/eaten at the Smokehouse. For my money, it’s the only place to stop for food during that whole boring 165 mile stretch between Montgomery and Mobile. I decided to stop there one Friday on a trip to Birmingham and give my impressions on this particular visit. From the outside the Smokehouse looks like an old country store with rocking chairs on the porch, old signs on the walls and a gravel parking lot on the side. As you walk in there is a cash register on the left, booths and tables scattered throughout the area and off to the left past the register is a cool little shop with all kinds of sauces, jellies, relishes and gourmet condiments. There are other items in the side shop but they never grab my attention.

There menu is expansive much like at Cracker Barrel’s. They have all types of breakfast dishes, burgers, sandwiches and BBQ beef, pork and rib plates. I decided on the BBQ Chicken Plate with potato salad and collard greens. The meal comes with a half chicken and a fair amount of their tangy, sweet tomato-based sauce ladled over the chicken. They give you big portions which is good because my total with tip was about 16 dollars. The chicken was very tender and a little smokiness but not a lot. The collards were excellent as there were fresh and flavorful. The potato salad was surprisingly good as I was expecting a typical bland mustard-base with cubed potatoes. In fact, they were red potatoes with some skin still on them and the base was more sour-creamy with little bits of egg. It was pretty tasty. I put some hot sauce on it just to give a little salty kick.
All-in-all, a good experience. It was around 1pm and the place was nearly packed. I was sort of in a rush to get back on the road and the service was fast and friendly. I-65 is one the main arteries to the Gulf of Mexico so if you find yourself about 45 minutes south of Montgomery and are hungry, try this place out for yourself.

4 Responses to “The Smokehouse – Greenville, AL – Bradley Ezell”

I went there this morning! What a place! I had a large plate of scrambled eggs, bacon and a large mound of grits with a “hubcap” biscuit. We left a note under the glass topped table to record our visit there and had fun looking at all the paraphernalia around the place.

I used to travel from Mobile to Montgomery quite often. I always left Mobile in time to stop at the Smokehouse for breakfast. The eggs, ham, bisquit and grits, topped with redeye gravy, stuck with me through the day.